MEDIA COOL

MEDIA COOL

This Month’s Media Cool was written by

Bill Holdship, Richard C. Walls, Iman Lababedi, and Dave Segal

TOP GUN (Paramount)

This was the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Even if you look beyond the sociological, psychological, political, sexual and what-not implications underneath (basically all sick), it’s just a rotten motion picture: bad story, bad acting, bad plausibility, bad directing, bad everything. Ten times worse thanRambo because it pretends to be something other than what it is—and it’s the biggest box office hit in the country as I write this. People clapped and cheered every time Tom Cruise blew up one of “the other side’s” planes. And “rock ’n’ roll”—the phrase one fighter pilot screams when he goes into combat—figures predominantly throughout. Despicable stuff. B.H.

THE CONNOISSEUR’S GUIDE TO THE MOVIES by James Monaco (Facts On File)

One of the by-products of the tremendous spurt in cable growth during the past halfdecade has been the proliferation of consumers’ guides to the movies available on television—so many flicks to see, so little time, and all that. Actually, Leonard Maltin’s TV Movies, which first appeared in ’68 and is updated every two years, is the model for most of these (as Maltin’s model was Steven Scheuer’s Movies On TV, which first appeared in ’58) and—in terms of info per square inch— it’s never been improved upon (also, Maltin, with a few weird exceptions, has reliable mainstream tastes and so gives you a sense of the critical consensus on most movies). And since all post-Maltin C-guides are (so far) redundant, what value these books have’ depends on such non-utilitarian things as whether the author has anything new or interesting to say. This Connoisseur’s Guide (the title’s a joke, I think) is a little BH skimpy for its price, but Monaco is knowledgeable, readable, and opinionated as hell. For buffs, an interesting book to, uh, interact with—others, buy the Maltin. R.C.W

PRAVDA (Associated Publishers, Inc.)

The educated consumer can now buy the English translation of the Soviet Union’s daily newspaper (circulation 10 million). Read stories about communist countries you didn’t even know existed. Discover how dangerous American foreign policies can seem. And learn the most sobering of truisms: all daily newspapers patronize their readers, while clubbing them into narrow, blinkered jingoists. There are, however, differences. Pravda’s only six pages long. No funnies! No advertisements!! And the stuff about agriculture in Siberia will revolutionize your concept of long-windedness. Still, Pravda is essential reading. Whether you view the U.S.S.R. as friend or foe, seeing them as human can only help. (Single copy price, $2 from Associated, 2233 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55I44). I.L.

ELVIS FOR BEGINNERS by Jill Pearlman Illustrated by Wayne White (Writers & Readers Publishing) This leftist company has published an entire series of “Beginners Documentary Comic Books” on the major figures who shaped 20th Century thought: Freud, Marx, Jung, Einstein, et. al. Imagine my surprise (and delight), then, when I discovered this tome on the King in my local book store...but I suppose he did change the world, after all. Unfortunately, the writing here is terrible and insulting. The attempts at humor often border on racism. Factual errors are abundant. And it isn’t even as indepth as, say, the Freud book. What’s more, it often seems to attack Elvis in many of the same areas that Albert Goldman once went for. God knows it would be interesting to read a good leftist/ Marxist view of how a great man’s life and art were ruined and destroyed by a capitalist system (whether you agree with it or not)—but this book is disgraceful. B.H.

THE ACID TRIP:

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC by Vernon Joynson (Babylon Books)

An inspired idea whose time has come. Unfortunately, Joynson, while possessing excellent taste and a great, obscure record collection, wasn’t the best man for this job. Although Joynson’s a fair and thorough historian (he covers about 200 bands), his writing ability’s woefully inadequate for conveying the multifarious pleasures of psychedelia. The poverty of his vocabulary, his spiceless style, his vagueness and humorlessness all make The Acid Trip more tiresome than it has any right to be. After reading that a song “has fine psychedelic guitar work” for the thousandth time, the phrase becomes meaningless. Joynson also relies heavily on “punk,” “trippy” and “acid” as all-purpose adjectives. By book’s end, I was ready to buy the sod a thesaurus. Despite these quarrels and the egregiously sloppy editing (factual, grammatical and spelling errors foul all 135 pages), I still recommend this for anyone who’s looking to score some little-known psychedelic classics and doesn’t know where to begin. D.S.

This Month In TV History

WITH DR. OLDIE